England flanker made his international comeback at the weekend and is keen to carry on where he left off

Tom Wood has told how special boots and a satellite tracking device helped him escape his injury hell.

The Northampton flanker is pushing for a recall to the England starting line-up which faces Australia at Twickenham on Saturday.

England are under pressure after dropping out of the top four World Cup seeding positions, ahead of next month's draw, despite hammering Fiji.

They have also been warned by boss Stuart Lancaster of a backlash heading their way following the Wallabies' humiliation by France.

None of which concerns Wood who is simply elated to be back in England colours after a year in which he went from being England captain-in-waiting to fearing he might never play again.

Complications to a toe injury left him with no option but to literally take the weight off his feet as medics struggled first to diagnose the problem then come up with a cure.

"The not knowing was torture," admitted Wood, who made his long-awaited England return as a second half substitute against Fiji.

"Not being able to play rugby at any level, never mind for England, took away my life and what I do for a living. It was an injury we didn't really understand and so recovery was a process of trial and error. I'm quite an intense person and I got very frustrated at times."

Having missed the Six Nations and England's summer Test series in South Africa, Wood was finally passed fit to play again - but only after he had boots custom-made to offload the weight on the ball of his left foot and support his high arch.

Even now he has to restrict his workload in any given session by using a GPS device to signal when he has covered 4kms.

"I have to be careful in the volume of training I do in the week," he explained. "I need recovery time between intense sessions.

"I can go full-on, train hard and play really hard. I'm not holding anything back when I'm playing. But on the back of that I have to ice and rest and make sure I get the inflammation out of my foot ready then to reload it again. Otherwise it's a downwards spiral.

"I don't think this should affect whether I'm selected. I've played every game this season for Northampton, I've played the full 80 in most of those games and I think my form has steadily has improved - to a good standard now.

"I am fully fit and I'm assured by the medics that this modified training we are putting in place is not going to have an adverse effect on selection."

Wood trained yesterday, unlike Manu Tuilagi (foot) and Geoff Parling (shoulder). But both are expected to be passed fit for Saturday's Cook Cup clash at Twickenham against a wounded prey.

"We recognise the challenge that is coming our way," Lancaster said. "There is bound to be a reaction from the weekend's performance against France. They are a side with character and resilience.

"I am sure if they have got a few players coming back as well they will be a different animal on Saturday. We need to make sure we are ready."

Lancaster will prepare England to face that side, who drew 18-18 with the All Blacks, rather than the Wallaby outfit that folded in Paris.

"It was only a couple of weeks ago they pushed the All Blacks and we are expecting that type of performance this weekend," Lancaster said.

"In this situation there is bound to be a reaction. They are a nation full of resilience in adversity and we need to be ready for it."

Tom Wood was speaking at the launch of 02 Inside Line, the weekly behind the scenes show from inside the England camp. Visit www.O2InsideLine.com